Crashed European lunar mission hailed as success

LONDON - It was the slowest and possibly the cheapest trip to the Moon and it ended in a crash.

But Europe's first lunar mission has been hailed a complete success.

The Smart-1 spacecraft was manoeuvred so it would hit the lunar surface at a speed of about 7240 km/h in a region of the Moon known as the Lake of Excellence.

Scientists at the European Space Agency's operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, said the crash would help to reveal the Moon's origins and whether it was ever part of the Earth.

Spectroscopic measurements of the lunar dust thrown up by the impact could help scientists to determine the precise chemical composition of this region of the Moon and so shed further light on its origins.

The € 110 million ($215.5 million) spacecraft took 14 months to reach the Moon because it was powered by a revolutionary ion-propulsion engine which used only 60 litres of fuel.

Before its crash, it extensively mapped the lunar surface.

- INDEPENDENT